m.w. tremblay

A commenter reminded me that I needed to write an update to this post.

Cell phone tethering:

The solution that I found for 3G internet in the sticks was the Verizon Mobile Broadband devices. Verizon sells 3G modems that come in USB and PCMCIA versions that connect your computer to their 3G cellphone data network, however; this is not the best solution. With Verizon you get a very solid network, but that comes with a high price ($60 a month) and a restrictive data cap (5 gigabytes). To add insult to injury, they charge you high overage fees (.25 cents per megabyte last time I checked).

Millenicom used to provide unlimited 3G data access for $60 a month, but at the time of this posting it appears that they have changed their plans to match the competitors. For shame!

Cricket Wireless is an up-and-coming wireless company that provides unlimited 3G data access for $40 a month, but if you use over 5 gigabytes a month your connection speed is reduced for 30 days, and they don’t say what that speed is reduced to. Cricket Wireless has very spotty coverage at the time of this post.

The best solution is to move to somewhere with cable. It’s 2010.

Whitespace internet:

Not much has really changed since my last post….

Tivo:

DVR systems such as Tivo are still one of the best solutions for many people. My plan? Buy a Mac Mini, install Plex, connect it to my TV, and use it for hulu, and all of my digital media. It would be a flexible and powerful solution for a digital entertainment TV system, and I can still add DVR features with some extra hardware.

That I’ll probably post about….

Cell phone tethering: I’m really interested in this. Where I live I do not have access to broadband internet, believe it or not there are places in the United States that don’t have cable or DSL access. The only choices we have out here are satellite or dial up 56k, we don’t even have cable TV out here, it’s all satellite. Satellite internet is horrendously expensive, and is not as fast as cable, especially when you measure speed per dollar. With the new 3G networks and phones, it may be viable to get a 3G phone and use it as a modem to connect my computer to the internet over a broadband cellular network, which would be really damned cool. Or, I could just move, but with the way the economy and the jobs in this area are looking, that’s not happening.

Whitespace internet: I’m looking into this for similar reasons. Now that the Government has called to cease analog transmissions there will be plenty of airspace freed up, which internet providers want to use to give people internet access in more places. I think this is a great idea because it could be a cheap alternative to satellite and does not require the extensive cable networks needed for cable based internet.

TiVo: Yeah, I’m late to the party, I know, shhhh. But, in relation to my previous post about digital media, this seems to be a great solution. I never really read about it before, but I learned that not only can it record live TV, but it can also interface with Amazon to download movies, music, and TV shows. This is great because my research also let me to discover that Amazon has a DRM free MP3 store (and apparently downloads come with album art), and a digital video store. Problem solved. Once I get a chance to try out the service I’ll post about it.